Reds blast 'cynical' Brumbies

Reds boss Ewen McKenzie and captain James Horwill have criticised the Brumbies' tactics in Saturday's 19-19 draw in Brisbane.

Reds boss Ewen McKenzie and captain James Horwill have criticised the Brumbies' tactics in Saturday's 19-19 draw in Brisbane.

In an epic clash, which lived up to its pre-match hype, referee Glen Jackson sent Brumbies inside centre Christian Lealiifano and replacement prop Scott Sio to the sin-bin for repeated infringements, but McKenzie believes more should have been done.

"No surprises out there was that," he said.

"Twelve penalties in their defending quarter for them, that's not counting the advantages on the penalties, the repeated infringements.

"It was a frustrating time; we had a big crowd, they wanted to see some action.

"We were determined to score some tries, but we can only contribute what we can contribute."

Horwill echoed McKenzie's sentiments and revealed that he was not surprised by the Brumbies' tactics.

"There was just some cynical stuff," he said.

"That's the reality of it, we knew they would do that.

"They're good at slowing the ball down and we should have been better to execute when they were down to 14 men."

Brumbies coach Jake White hit back at the Reds' claims and praised his side's defensive efforts.

"I don't know if we could get punished any more," he said.

"I think they had about 20 penalties on our line.

"Ewen has obviously got a view, but they got a lot of penalties and had a full crack at our line. I'm proud by the fact that we kept them out."